SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio - An award-winning Florida chef's pizza concept, a local brewery and other tenants have joined the lineup at the Van Aken District, where demolition is starting and funding is nearly in place for the first, almost $100 million phase of development.

RMS Investment Corp. finally is ready to tear down the old Van Aken Center to make way for a project billed as a new downtown for suburban Shaker Heights. A ceremonial kickoff event is set for noon Saturday at Chagrin Boulevard and Warrensville Center Road. After that, RMS will hold a pop-up market across the street, at the renovated Shaker Plaza retail strip.

Razing the now-empty Van Aken Center, built in the 1950s, might take three weeks, said Luke Palmisano, president of RMS. The privately held real estate company expects to close on its construction financing in December, when a roughly $65 million bond-financing deal could go to the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority's board for approval.

"The financing is never simple," Palmisano said of mixed-use developments like Van Aken, which will include small shops, restaurants, a food hall, offices, a parking garage and apartments in its first phase. "We have nine different sources in our project. It's just the way that these projects get built in Northeast Ohio."

When the new buildings open in spring 2018, they'll include Harry's Pizzeria, the first such restaurant beyond Florida for James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schwartz.

The first Harry's Pizzeria opened in Miami's Design District in 2011. Schwartz and business partner Sunil Bhatt now have two additional locations - one opened, the second coming soon - in the Miami area and plans for 20 more pizzerias across the country over the next four years. A Philadelphia native, Schwartz is involved in an array of hospitality ventures and is perhaps best known for his flagship restaurant, Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, also in Miami.

"Harry's is in expansion mode, and we have been very thorough in the selection process, especially as we entertain opportunities out of state," Bhatt, chief executive officer of Harry's Holdings, said in a written statement. "We believe in the future vision for the Van Aken District and are thrilled to be a part of it."

RMS, which recently moved from downtown Cleveland to Shaker Heights, has teamed up with local chef Jonathon Sawyer to curate the roster of food and drink tenants in the Van Aken District. Sawyer, the well-known face behind the Greenhouse Tavern and other restaurants, also plans to open an as-yet-unnamed eatery in the district.

Other new additions to the project include Urban Orchid, a florist with two locations in Cleveland; Whiskey Grade, a motorcycle-lifestyle clothing retailer that opened its first store in Ohio City last year; Double Rainbow, a children's boutique; Evie Lou, a Tremont-based women's clothing store that's expanding; Moochie & Co., which sells pet supplies; Marc Anthoni Spa; and Andrews Colour Atelier, a hair salon.

Some of those retailers have committed to new construction, so they won't open until 2018. But others, including Evie Lou, the spa and Moochie & Co., will pop up sooner at Shaker Plaza, which RMS bought and renovated to round out the district. Space at Shaker Plaza is 80 percent leased between new tenants and retailers who moved there from Van Aken Center.

Goldhorn Brewery will establish a small brewing operation and bar in the new food hall, a 22,000-square-foot, multi-tenant space that RMS has christened the Orman Building. Van Aken will be a second location for Goldhorn, which opened its main brewery and taproom in July on East 55th Street in Cleveland.

Patrons in Shaker Heights will be able to grab food at nearby stalls and restaurants in the Orman Building before snagging a seat at the bar. They also might be able to tote their beers to other locations, if RMS succeeds in making Van Aken an open-container district, a designated area where bar and restaurant customers legally can drink alcohol outside.

State lawmakers approved enabling legislation for open-container districts in 2015.

"If it's managed well, it will add another element of excitement and entertainment to districts like ours," Palmisano said of giving people more space to roam with a beer or cocktail in hand. "We're trying to build, in many ways, a European-feeling district in that the public and private spaces merge together."

Over the last year, RMS has announced other retail tenants including Shinola Detroit, a watchmaker; Mitchell's Ice Cream; Rising Star Coffee Roasters; and Restore Cold Pressed juice.

The 60,000-square-foot office building planned at Van Aken is half leased, between ABA Insurance, RMS's own offices, a University Hospitals suburban pediatrics office that's relocating and a financial services advisory firm that RMS won't identify yet. Palmisano said he's talking to additional tenants who, if they sign deals, would bring the building to 90 percent occupancy.

The first phase of the project also includes 102 apartments.

Plans for a grocery store on the other side of Warrensville Center Road stalled in July, when The Fresh Market abruptly closed its Van Aken Center store and walked away from a deal to construct a new, freestanding building nearby. That decision seemed less about Van Aken and more about changing priorities at The Fresh Market in the wake of a private-equity buyout.

Palmisano said an announcement about a replacement retailer might come early next year. "We've had a half-dozen other grocers out there in the market looking, and I think we're going to land on one that's really committed to Northeast Ohio and Shaker," he said.

For now, though, he's focused on tying up a funding package that involves loans, grants and other financing from Shaker Heights, Cuyahoga County and the state.

Three banks are in line to buy bonds issued by the port, through a program that will save RMS money through sales-tax breaks on construction materials. The project also includes equity from RMS, which oversees private real estate investments for members of the Ratner, Miller and Shafran families, the founding families of Cleveland-based Forest City Realty Trust, Inc.

"We are especially grateful to RMS and its partners and its leadership," Shaker Heights Mayor Early Leiken said in a news release about the upcoming demolition celebration. "Their deep understanding and connection to this community has been critical to the development. Our new downtown will be a central part of the design of Shaker Heights in the 21st century, a design built on strong schools, beautiful neighborhoods and dedicated residents."